It’s 2 a.m. and your ideal client, Angie, is up at her laptop researching baby eczema, because her 8-month-old son Conner is miserable. Angie is a conscious “earth mama” in Austin, TX and wants only the best, most “green” products or remedies for Conner. Is Angie more likely to Google “organic baby lotion for excema” or ask her Facebook friends?

The answer to this question can help you choose how and where to position your pay-per-click ad campaign for your new line of chemical-free, organic, pediatrician-endorsed baby care products.

For my clients, Facebook Ads is becoming a bigger part of the advertising strategy we create. Top reasons: besides the worldwide reach (200+ Million users), I am a big fan of Facebook’s targeting options. If you only want to have your ad — about 150 characters of text plus a small image – displayed to married 25- to 35-year-old women who attended Arizona State and love soccer – you can be that specific!

This is where Facebook is different (and in my opinion superior) than Google. Remember when you filled out your profile, complete with education and employment history, and then spent a long night listing your top TV shows? Facebook has that information and much more! As an advertiser, you can tap into this wealth of information and create uber-targeted campaigns. You can choose to only for clicks (for most of my clients Google recommends a bid of around $0.80 – $1.10 per click) or by impression (this means a flat fee regardless of how many people click over to your site).

So is this the end of Google AdWords? Hardly. Google is still going strong and processes about 60 Billions searches a day! And each search is an opportunity for an AdWords ad to be served up. So when Angie, your ideal client is up at 2 am Googling “organic baby lotion for excema” she can see your ad for your new line of chemical-free, organic, pediatrician-approved baby products alongside other search results.

Here are some of the factors I use for deciding between Google AdWords and Facebook Ads for small businesses.

Your industry and competition: if your industry is dominated by big players with deep pockets (such as insurance, legal, or financial) AdWords can be prohibitively expensive for small businesses. The cost can be partially addressed by selecting more specific (i.e. “long-tail”) keywords and requires some research, planning, and possible an update of your website.

Your ideal client: is she searching for a solution to a specific problem (i.e. organic lotion of exzema)? Then Google is your ticket. Or, is she part of a particular demographic you are trying to reach (college seniors in New York)? If your college senior prospect isn’t googling “nonprofit internship for Spanish majors in New York” he is likely socializing on Facebook and you can reach him there.

Bottom line: Facebook and Google have both created budget-friendly, easy-to-use platforms to help you get your message in front of your ideal clients. By doing some homework and research, you can pick one (or both!) and create a highly targeted and campaign to bring more visitors, leads, and sales to your website. I call that “connect with your ideal client.”

Flash is what enables the beautiful animation and interactive features on most websites.

The problem with Flash is that Google can’t read what’s inside. The analogy I like to use is to see your website as a book: your URL is the title, your tabs are the table of contents, and your content is the text of the book. Then image that in the middle of the book you have a gorgeous insert. Google doesn’t know how to read it so it simply skips it!

So if your mission statement, product names, or important news are hidden inside Flash, they are invisible to Google. Which also means they are invisible to thousands of potential customers who are searching for what you offer.

SOLUTION: There is a technical workaround that may or may not be part of your website code. Much like an <alt> tag for your images, this solution allows you to explain to Google what’s inside your Flash feature. Hint: ask your webmaster about something called <noscript>.